GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Mark 4:26-34

Jesus said to the crowds:

“This is how it is with the Kingdom of God;

it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land

and would sleep and rise night and day

and the seed would sprout and grow,

he knows not how.

Of its own accord the land yields fruit,

first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once,

for the harvest has come.”

He said,

“To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God,

or what parable can we use for it?

It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,

is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.

But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants

and puts forth large branches,

so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”

With many such parables

he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.

Without parables he did not speak to them,

but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.

The Word of the Lord

Ours is to sow

What Jesus asks of us is to scatter the seed, the Good News of the Gospel. We will not make it sprout, nor cause the plants to grow, and in many cases we will not see the fruits. But that must not stop us. And even though the seed we sow may seem small, like the mustard seed, it can become a great plant that gives shade and even shelter to the birds of the sky.

And us — who sowed this seed in us? Perhaps it was our grandparents, our parents, a teacher, a priest… Now Jesus asks it of you, He asks it of me: that we carry the proclamation of “Marriage as God intended it” throughout the world, especially to the most distant corners.

Spouses, let nothing stop us! He trusts in us.

Applied to Married Life

Michael: Patricia, sometimes I get discouraged. I feel our meetings with the couple we’re mentoring don’t achieve anything.

Patricia: Honestly, that’s how it seems to me too. But I’m convinced it’s not like that, because the very fact we keep meeting is already a step towards building something.

Michael: Yes, but it’s frustrating and disheartening not to see any results.

Patricia: Michael, it’s our task to sow — to bring them the Good News of the Gospel, to give them hope that their marriage can improve and become what God intended. That little seed we plant, it’s the Lord who will make it grow.

Michael: You’re absolutely right. Forgive me for getting carried away with wanting to see outcomes. It’s clear this isn’t a business where we can measure profits…

Patricia: Treasures in Heaven. What we must do here is keep offering our little bit, and He will do the rest.

Michael: Thank you so much for helping me see the supernatural side of it. Come here, my Suitable Helper, and give me a kiss!

Mother,

Help us to scatter the seed of the Gospel in season and out of season.

Blessed and praised be the Lord!

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Mark 4:21-25

Jesus said to his disciples,
“Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket
or under a bed,
and not to be placed on a lampstand?
For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible;
nothing is secret except to come to light.
Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear.”
He also told them, “Take care what you hear.
The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you,
and still more will be given to you.
To the one who has, more will be given;
from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

The Word of the Lord

Listen.

The Lord calls us; we must stay attentive and listen to what He tells us. He gives us gifts so that we may place them at His service — not to keep them for ourselves or use them only according to our own needs, but to bring light to the world by handing on what we have received.

The sacrament of marriage is a gift from the Lord, given so that through our self‑giving we may show the love of God. As spouses, we have the mission of showing the world the greatness of this gift and of being a lamp that gives light through our offering of ourselves.

Let us begin by listening to one another, so that we may reveal God’s love to all and show the beauty of our sacrament.

Applied to married life

Rachel: Many happy returns, my love.

Patrick: Thank you so much. What a lovely gesture — the day has barely begun, it’s only just struck midnight.

Rachel: I know you love celebrating your birthday; you’ve told me so many times, and I didn’t want to miss the chance to be the first.

Patrick: For me, you’re always the first in everything. I thought that when I mentioned celebrating my birthday you hadn’t really heard me — in fact, I got the impression you weren’t paying attention.

Rachel: Of course I was listening. I’ve learnt to pay more attention to what you tell me, so I can be closer to you.

Patrick: Thank you, truly. You know how much it helps me to know you’re attentive to what I say, even with all the silly things I sometimes come out with.

Rachel: Nothing you say is silly — everything about you matters to me. Besides, your birthday is a day to give thanks to God especially for you.

Patrick: Then let’s celebrate by beginning with giving thanks together for our marriage.

Rachel: Let’s do that — and then off to bed, because tomorrow we’ve got plenty more celebrating ahead.

Mother,

Help us to remain attentive to what your Son tells us through our spouse. Blessed be the Lord.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Mark  4:1-20

On another occasion, Jesus began to teach by the sea. A very large crowd gathered around him so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down. And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land. And he taught them at length in parables, and in the course of his instruction he said to them, “Hear this! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep. And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it and it produced no grain.

And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit. It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” He added, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”

And when he was alone, those present along with the Twelve
questioned him about the parables. He answered them, “The mystery of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you. But to those outside everything comes in parables, so tha they may look and see but not perceive, and hear and listen but not understand, in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven.”

Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable?
Then how will you understand any of the parables? The sower sows the word. These are the ones on the path where the word is sown. As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once and takes away the word sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who, when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy.
But they have no roots; they last only for a time. Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Those sown among thorns are another sort. They are the people who hear the word, but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches, and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word, and it bears no fruit. But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

The Mathematics of Love

God is a tireless sower. Each day He comes out to meet us. He gives Himself to us; He wants to pour out His grace upon us because He desires to sanctify us, to divinise us. How good God is. We are never lacking seed. We are never lacking grace. What is sometimes missing is soil that is ready, because the sower is always generous, but the ground is not always prepared. The question is simple: what kind of soil am I?

Let us not allow the evil one to distract or deceive us; to prepare fertile soil, a life of prayer is essential. The soul is made to receive God, and we do not receive Him by doing many things for Him, even if they are very good things — we receive Him in prayer. It is in prayer that we grow in intimacy with the Lord, and in that intimacy we are filled with His love and with all the graces He longs to pour out upon us.

The fruit: the transformation of an entire life and union with Him.

Applied to married life

Albert: Esther, I’ve realised that as soon as we neglect prayer, the atmosphere at home starts to get tense. Have you noticed?

Esther: I’ve been observing it for a while, and I’d dare to say it’s mathematical. When we don’t pray, or pray very little, we end up arguing straight away — the reproaches come out, the little grudges, we judge each other… and I’ve been asking the Lord for some time to show me what mysterious link there is between one thing and the other.

Albert: And?

Esther: Well, He’s shown me. Jesus Himself says in John 5:42 that the love of God is not in us. And I think that’s the key: either we have God’s Love or we have our own. And we already know what ours is like — limited, and selfishness appears straight away.

Albert: I see… so to fill ourselves with God’s Love, we need to go to prayer. The more prayer, the more love between us, and when there’s no prayer… things don’t go well.

Esther: Exactly — love is directly proportional, because with that love we receive, you and I love each other. What do you think?

Albert: You’re brilliant at the mathematics of love

Mother,

We pass on the love we receive, and we receive the Love of God in the intimacy of prayer. You know that without prayer we can do nothing, which is why you call us again and again to a life of prayer. Blessed and praised are you. Praised be the Lord who pours out His grace.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Mark 3:31-35

The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house.

Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him.

A crowd seated around him told him,

“Your mother and your brothers and your sisters

are outside asking for you.”

But he said to them in reply,

“Who are my mother and my brothers?”

And looking around at those seated in the circle he said,

“Here are my mother and my brothers.

For whoever does the will of God

is my brother and sister and mother.”

The Word of the Lord

Break my plans

Jesus does not reject His Mother or His family. That would be unthinkable in the One who perfectly fulfilled the commandment to honour father and mother. Jesus does not break bonds: He brings them to fullness. And He reveals what the true foundation of communion with Him is: not blood, not physical closeness, not natural ties, but loving obedience to the will of the Father. That is what makes us mother and brothers of Jesus. How much He loves us! Look at the intimacy to which He calls us. Does your heart not move?

Jesus does not call you to do things for Him. Jesus wants intimacy with you. He wants your heart, your love. And true love for God leads me to give Him my will. Faith in God is proven in detachment from my own will so that I may cling to His. Even when it hurts. Because more than health, for which so many pray, more than money, more even than people, we are attached to doing our own will. And that is, many times, the root of problems between spouses: the clash of opinions, the need to impose and dominate, the refusal to renounce in order to embrace the will of the other.

That is what Christ calls us to: to renounce, to obey, to love to the extreme. So that we may follow Him from Calvary to Glory! “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34). The Lord does not tell us to be content with knowing His will, nor to admire it, nor even to preach it. He says: do it. Because the one who does it, that one enters the Kingdom of Heaven, already tasting here an anticipation of that heaven in married life. In the everyday, in the small things. In the hidden. In what no one applauds and only God sees: when I choose my spouse’s way over mine; when I renounce that comment I know will hurt; when I forgive again, even though it hurts; when I remain faithful to love while the world offers easier, more comfortable, and profoundly anti-Gospel exits.

The saints were not “good people.” The saints were men and women who stopped doing their own will to do God’s will. And there they found joy and happiness. There they found freedom. There they found true life.

Applied to Married Life

Jon: Patsy, those potatoes with chorizo were absolutely delicious!

Patsy: I’m so glad you enjoyed them!… I thought I wouldn’t have time because this morning I realised we didn’t have any chorizo.

Jon: Well, well, they were spectacular! Thank you, my love. I saw you dash off to the supermarket.

Patsy: (smiles) It was worth it just to see you enjoy something so simple so much.

Jon: You’re so beautiful. (they share a kiss)

Patsy: Oh, it’s getting late, let’s tidy up quickly — we’ve got to fetch the children from school.

Jon: Leave it, leave it, I’ll do it myself.

Patsy: Really?

Jon: Yes, yes! Go on, have a nap, I’ll clear up.

Patsy: Oh, my Jon, I love you!

Jon: I’m the one who should love you.

Mother,

You are the Mother of God not only because you bore Him in your womb, but because you listened, welcomed, and lived everything according to God’s will. Teach us, as little children, to love by obeying as you did. Praised be Jesus Christ!

Gospel of the Day 

From the Gospel according to Mark 3, 22-30

The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus,
“He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and
“By the prince of demons he drives out demons.”

Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables,
“How can Satan drive out Satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house is divided against itself,
that house will not be able to stand.
And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him.
But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property
unless he first ties up the strong man.
Then he can plunder his house.
Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them.
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness,
but is guilty of an everlasting sin.”
For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

The Word of the Lord.

Recalculating together.

If a family is divided, it cannot subsist. If a marriage is not united, it cannot subsist. A marriage is united when it does not each go in a different direction, but both support each other to move in the same direction. We need a common goal, so that a sin of my spouse is considered a project of both of us and vice versa, to come out victorious together.

Bishop Munilla spoke to us about one of the keys to marriage, a process that is triggered in the GPS when we take the wrong path: “Recalculating.” Our struggle is not one against the other, it is both against the devil, so in the face of any sin, from one or the other, we already know what to do: ask for forgiveness, forgive, and…”recalculate” the path.

Applied to matrimonial life:

John: I don’t care what she says. The Spirit is stronger. God is much stronger. I am going to keep fighting to save my wife and my marriage, because for God nothing is impossible, and I firmly believe in that. God created her for me, so that with her I can reach Him, and I am not going to abandon the mission He has entrusted to me.
John’s mother: Son, but she doesn’t deserve it. She has shown that she doesn’t love you, that you don’t matter to her. She yells at you, emotionally blackmails you, and speaks ill of you to everyone.
John: Mom, she is not my enemy. Our common enemy is the devil, and he has blinded her. She doesn’t know what she’s doing. But she has me to help her see the light.
John’s mother: Son, you’re scaring me. What if you’re losing your mind?
John: No, Mom. I haven’t lost my mind. I have faith in the Almighty, I have faith in the One who is all Love. And you have taught me that. Now is the time to demonstrate that faith.
(John, with God’s help, reconquered his wife, and today they keep their family united. Their marriage was strengthened by that crisis. Today, Cristina, his wife, is certain that John loves her more than himself. In a way, she feels indebted to him, and wants to show him that she also has blind faith in what God can do in their marriage).

Mother,

Faith is shown in moments of difficulty. That’s when it is put to the test. Let the Devil not have his way and let us continue to believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. Through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.